This monograph examines the conflicts in the Middle East region between Saudi Arabia and Iran and the so-called proxy wars that are being fought between them, and discusses ways that the United States needs to maneuver carefully in this struggle to preserve its long-term interests in the area. Although Washington has political, economic, and strategic equities with Riyadh, it needs to think carefully about being perceived as engaging in sectarian strife that would alienate Shia allies in Iraq, show bias in its human rights policy, and anger millions of Iranian young people who want better relations with the United States.

Added November 05, 2018

Americans have always been uniquely attracted to airpower, a fact that has been successfully exploited by generations of U.S. Air Force leaders in information campaigns. But as a result, the nation has often entered conflicts with exorbitant expectations about what airpower could actually accomplish, creating unique challenges in strategic communications when promises did not match reality, especially in recent conflicts. Adaptive enemies have also become very adept at using their own carefully crafted information campaigns to counter what is America’s greatest asymmetric advantage on the battlefield.

Added October 23, 2018

This monograph provides an assessment of the threat posed by the partnership between criminal organizations, irregular groups, and nation-states to U.S. national security interests, and recommends ways in which it can be countered by the U.S. Army.

Added October 18, 2018

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has become the most important multilateral defense structure in the former Soviet Union and is an essential instrument in Russia’s resurgence. CSTO has expanded its missions, authorities, and capabilities. However, it faces both internal and external challenges, especially debilitating divisions among its members.

Added October 03, 2018

The monograph suggests a risk-based approach to developing an advanced information warfare capability for the U.S. Army. It also proposes that complexity and uncertainty in the information environment be exploited rather than considered a barrier. The authors recommend the development of a series of operational architectures and categories, which abandon the conventional single-outcome strategies of current military deception and embrace complex engagements in a connected and dynamic battlespace.

Added September 27, 2018

The “America First” approach to foreign policy seems to call into question the value of institutions like the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU). However, in a more competitive and uncertain strategic environment, NATO and the EU remain vital to promoting U.S. interests.

Added September 25, 2018

This monograph highlights the importance of establishing effective and sustainable rule of law institutions and practices in post-conflict states, and describes how the U.S. Army could better achieve that goal as part of its strategy for withdrawal from conflict.

Added September 24, 2018

Authored by Mr. Gregory Aftandilian.
Syria has become one of the most vexing and complex problems for U.S. strategic planners in recent times. Currently, the United States has about 2,000 troops in the northeastern part of the country whose primary mission has been to aid the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), made up primarily of Kurds and some Arab tribesmen, to fight ISIS. The near total defeat of ISIS in Syria, especially with the fall of its so-called caliphate capital in Raqqa in October 2017, might seem to suggest that the military mission is coming to an end and, therefore, the United States should pull out its troops. Indeed, President Donald Trump stated publicly in late March 2018, that he wanted these troops to come home “very soon.” However, since that time, the U.S. President has backtracked from this statement after receiving advice from several of his top military advisers, including Defense Secretary James Mattis, some foreign leaders like French President Emanuel Macron and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and influential members of Congress, such as Senator Lindsey Graham, all of whom have recommended that the President keep these troops in Syria.

Added September 20, 2018

Conflict and fragile environments are increasingly complex and unpredictable, but the U.S. policy system itself is much more complex and unpredictable than most leaders appreciate. In this monograph, the authors argue that until we get a grasp on this “dual-system problem,” the United States will fall further and further behind in its strategic ambitions.

Added September 05, 2018

The 2018 National Defense Strategy and National Space Strategy both reaffirm the vital interests that the United States has in the domain of space. However, space remains an inherently hostile environment that has become congested, contested, and competitive among the nations. What are ways for the U.S. Army to assure the success of its space-dependent warfighting functions in an anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) environment where space systems are degraded for significant periods of time?

Added August 22, 2018

Underestimated: Our Not So Peaceful Nuclear Future, Second Edition explores what nuclear future we may face over the next 3 decades and how we currently think about this future. Will nuclear weapons spread in the next 20 years to more nations than just North Korea and possibly Iran? How dire will the consequences be? What might help us avoid the worst?

Added August 20, 2018

Edited by LTC Charles A. Carlton.
For over a decade, the USAWC has published the Key Strategic Issues List (KSIL) to inform students, faculty, and external research associates of strategic topics requiring research and analysis. A subset of these topics, designated as Chief of Staff of the Army special interest topics, consists of those which demand special attention. The USAWC will address these as Integrated Research Projects and other research efforts. The USAWC in coordination with Headquarters Department of the Army (HQDA), major commands throughout the Army, and the joint and interagency community have developed the remaining Army Priorities for Strategic Analysis. The KSIL will help prioritize strategic research and analysis that USAWC students and faculty, USAWC Fellows, and external researchers conduct to link their research efforts and results more effectively to the Army's highest priority topics.

Added July 27, 2018

Edited by Dr. John R. Deni.
What are the key strategic objectives, operational planning tenets, and force modernization goals of the Russian Federation? This collection of short essays includes the key insights and recommendations presented by featured speakers during a one-day, invite-only workshop conducted in Washington, DC on May 1, 2018 in support of U.S. European Command.

Added July 26, 2018

One of the major developments in international law since World War II is the growth of human rights law dedicated to ensuring the protection of individuals from violence wherever they are, including from their own state. Tracking such changes, in recent decades, just-war theory has evolved from its traditional focus on state sovereignty in the direction of a rights-based approach that treats just wars as a form of global law enforcement. This monograph provides a survey of these developments, focusing on the increased scope for humanitarian intervention, principles of justice after war, and on the question of the responsibility of combatants for assessing the justice of their military's cause. It concludes by considering the call for strengthening international institutions and training programs in military ethics.

The transatlantic community is facing a vast array of security challenges in Europe. The principal intergovernmental organizations—the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)—responsible for rising to these challenges face a number of hurdles. This monograph takes a unique perspective—that of European partners and allies—in suggesting to U.S. policymakers how Washington ought to consider adjusting its approach in Europe and beyond, as a means of helping NATO and the EU to provide credible and sustainable collective security and defense.

Added May 22, 2018

This monograph examines the current state of robotics technology, the trajectory for future robotics and autonomous systems use, and the ethical implications of military robotics in the context national security. This monograph offers policy recommendations, explains investment strategy drivers, and examines the ethical implications of robotics and autonomous systems on the modern battlefield.

Added March 27, 2018

By their very nature, military doctrine and operations are works in progress. How are U.S. military operations in the newest domains of space and cyberspace being integrated with operations in the traditional domain of land? Do joint forces in these three domains have existing means available to facilitate cross-domain synergy?

Added February 16, 2018

Edited by COL Todd E. Key, LTC Charles A. Carlton.
The USAWC Research Plan is one part of a research program cycle that
incorporates three interrelated documents: the KSIL, the USAWC Annual Research
Plan and the USAWC Annual Research Report. While the KSIL drives USAWC
research, the Research Plan describes how directed resources will answer many of the
questions posed in the KSIL. The Research Report serves as a compendium of
research completed and a means to identify unanswered questions from the current
KSIL, to assist in the next cycle’s KSIL formulation.

The Trump administration has recently called for a free and open Indo-Pacific, essentially replacing the Obama-era “Rebalance.” This U.S. Army War College report provides prescient analysis and policy recommendations on how to proceed down the path while simultaneously managing the rise of China.

Added December 15, 2017

Still Soldiers and Scholars? provides important evidence and advice for the Army as it seeks to sustain and improve the performance of its officer corps. This book adeptly reviews the key developments, assumptions, and forces that have guided and shaped Army officer testing over the years. It then provides thoughtful and practical recommendations regarding how the Army might ensure a more solid intellectual base on which to build its officer corps.

Added November 14, 2017

This monograph analyzes the historical weapons systems life cycles of the early 9th through the mid-16th-century knight, the mid-19th through the later 20th-century battleship, and the early 20th through the early 21st-century tank. Next, it applies the knowledge gained to provide strategic context and governmental guidance concerning the emergence of armed robotic systems—drones and droids—on the modern battlefield.

Added November 02, 2017

In April 2015, the Department of Defense (DoD) released its second official strategy for cyberspace. How does the new strategy compare to the 2011 Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace? Does it provide an appropriate and actionable path forward for military operations in the rapidly evolving cyberspace domain?

Added November 01, 2017

Nuclear weapons, great state competition, and belligerence have refocused American strategy to view military operations in undeveloped and largely ungoverned areas, such as Africa, as economy of force efforts. Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Guido suggests what such economy of force efforts to control terrorist sanctuary would look like, and the key considerations to achieve success against these terrorist groups in his detailed study of one of the most notorious al-Qaeda leaders of all time who finds refuge in the middle of the world’s largest desert—perhaps the greatest sanctuary of all.

Added October 26, 2017

The implications of the Third Offset for the Army should not be dismissed. These technologies have the potential to change the character of conflict and they require deliberateness. They are coming, and in many cases are already here—it is inevitable. How the Army approaches the Third Offset over the upcoming few years will set the stage for the next 30 years.

Added October 10, 2017

Many different actors oppose the use of unmanned autonomous weapons (UAV’s) from adversary states, to international governmental organizations to policymakers and academics. However, the basis for their opposition varies, as do the assumptions behind their arguments. This Letort Paper lays out distinctions between arguments about technology, arguments about policy, and arguments about strategy.

Added September 28, 2017

Although collective security in the Gulf is the topic of numerous policy publications, most of the available literature focuses on the political environment without considering the operational requirements of this scenario. This monograph offers an evaluation of Gulf defense cooperation programs in order to stir the discussion on the future of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as the “NATO of the Gulf.”

Added September 14, 2017

A series of megatrends will present a major challenge to the United States in the coming decades, exposing it to crises and opportunities on the battlefield and in the market. The U.S. military should stand ready to harness these dynamics to retain its edge in an operational environment marked by increased complexity, speed, and intensity of global developments.

Added September 11, 2017

This monograph reimagines war’s fundamental nature, extending Clausewitz’s theory of its political origin and “trinitarian” elements in a way that embraces alternative, sociological explanations like that of John Keegan. Ultimately, it proposes a new way to visualize the complexities of war’s intrinsic elements, operating at any scale, and expresses war with a completely new and universal definition.

Added August 29, 2017

This book examines the implications for building partner capacity in Africa based on reform initiatives in the fiscal year (FY) 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. The legislation enacts sweeping changes to how the Defense Department (DoD), including the Army, conducts security cooperation activities. The study assesses this legislation’s impact on U.S. defense interests in Africa and recommends ways for the DoD to address these reform initiatives for the region, and in some cases, serve as a model for other regions.